Merlin Olsen

            On Friday morning I memorized the fifth verse of "C'était une pauv' gosse des rues" (She Was a Poor Child of the Street) by Boris Vian. 

            I finished memorizing "Lost Song" by Serge Gainsbourg and searched for the chords. I found one set at Boite a chanson and transcribed those. I found another set at Ultimate Guitar and transcribed about half. I'll finish that on Saturday and continue searching. 

            I played my Martin acoustic guitar during song practice for the last day of four. On the weekend I'll play my Kramer electric. 

            I weighed 85.6 kilos before breakfast. 

            I went to sand some more of the board that I'd I glued down to fill the depression in the kitchen floor. When I left it last time there was a section of one side that was sticking up above the level of the floor but when I got to it today it was flush. It shifts I guess according to temperature or humidity or both. It was still a little high in the middle so I sanded that. I think it's done and so now I need to look for some tiles. All I want is solid black and solid white vinyl tiles to glue down in checkerboard fashion. I looked it up and there are stores far away that show them in their catalogues but the local places don't have them at least on digital display. I'll check out the tile place up at Dundas and Sorauren next week to see if they have them. If not I'll try Home Depot. 

            I made a folder for the songs I've chorded from the poems I wrote for my first chapbook Vomit of the Star Eater. I decided that the next song I'll start practicing in the morning is "Vomit of the Star Eater", unless it's already online and I've forgotten that I uploaded it. I'll check YouTube to see. 

            I weighed 85.3 kilos before lunch. 

            In the afternoon I took a bike ride downtown and back. 

            I chiseled some more black quartz from pieces of the rock that I found six years ago. 

            I weighed 85.2 kilos at 17:30. 

            I was caught up on my journal at 18:49. 

            I compared the videos of my August 14 and August 29 performances of "Megaphor" again and decided that I like August 14 better. I compared August 30 to August 14 and I still prefer August 14. I compared September 2 to August 14 and September 2 is pretty good with some heavy distortion but I continue to favour August 14. I compared September 3 to August 14 and September might have won if not for one chord being slightly off. I compared September 4 to August 14 and it doesn't quite have the magic of August 14. I compared September 5 to August 14 and I definitely look friendlier on August 14, so it stays in front. There are four more sessions to review before I decide and I should have that done on Saturday. 

            In the Movie Maker project to create a video for the studio recording of my song "Megaphor" I finished editing the clips from the silent film Spies by Fritz Lang. I inserted them into the main video to correspond with my line "of the enemy's secret but the spies in my brain plant mines in the answers just to drive me insane". I had to cut out most of the last two clips from the end of the movie which feature the clown, and which is really the best part of the film. The clown's performance is fantastic but most of his act doesn't fit my lyric and so I just kept the part when he pulls out his gun and shoots himself in the head and I timed it at the exact moment when I sing the word "insane". I started deleting the parts of the concert video in which I sing that line as I couldn't synchronize it with the studio audio. Next I need to try to synchronize the concert video with the studio audio for the line, "But right under their noses an invisible thread spirals endlessly inward to god in my head". I'll work on that on Saturday. 

            I finished scanning the last of my black and white negatives, which were all single street shots from the spring of 1988. I then scanned most of a set of colour negatives of my Paranoiac Utopia collage, the shots of Parkdale from my window that I used for it, plus the many extra shots that I didn't use. I should have that set finished on Saturday. 

            I had a potato with gravy and my last Porkchop while watching season 7, episodes 16 and 17 of Petticoat Junction. 

            In the first story, Salma Plout, in her efforts to marry off her daughter Henrietta, has set up a helicopter pilot named Ronald Coleman in the crop dusting business in the valley. She is financing his operation but this puts him in direct competition with Steve and his plane. Steve is okay with it but Joe is outraged and is trying to plot against it. Perhaps to rub her triumph in, Salma has arranged for Ronald to become a tenant at the Shady Rest. Billie Joe and Bobbie Joe decide to use their considerable charms to sway Ronald away from Henrietta. Dr. Janet Craig does not approve of their manipulations and reminds them that Henrietta is the one who would be hurt by this. The girls decide she's right and so they tell Ronald that they can't see him anymore because they've just gotten engaged through computer dating. Ronald tells them he doesn't really find Henrietta very attractive. Salma brings Henrietta to the Shady Rest looking for Ronald. The girls tell her he's out but she doesn't believe them. While Salma is searching the hotel for Ronald, Billie and Bobbie take Henrietta upstairs and give her a makeover. When Ronald arrives he is blown away by how beautiful Henrietta is and wants to ask her to marry him but she says no. Now that she knows she is attractive she wants to play the field because she's never had the chance before. Ronald leaves the valley. 

            In the second story Betty Joe and Steve are in Pixley when they see Orrin in a jewellery store looking at engagement rings. The only logical reason for him to be doing this is that he is planning to propose to Bobbie Joe and so they are excited. They tell everyone but Bobbie that Orrin is about to pop the question. The only one who doesn't want the union to take place is Joe, who hates Orrin and will do anything to stop him from joining his family. Meanwhile a giant of a backwoods farmer named Merlin comes into Hooterville and announces that he has come to pick a wife. When Joe hears about it he thinks it's a perfect opportunity to put a wedge between Bobbie and Orrin and so he invites him out to the Shady Rest. The first woman Merlin sees is Janet and he looks her over like he's shopping for a plough horse. She says she has to deliver a baby and he thinks that means she's spoken for. Then he sees Billie and tries the same thing. When she learns he wants to marry her she says no. He's surprised but not discouraged because he is sure he's a catch. Then Orrin announces he's just gotten a pay raise and invites everyone to celebrate with him. They all think that's a sign he's going to propose to Bobbie because he'd mentioned before that he needed a pay raise before he could think about getting married. That night they have a get together and sing a couple of marriage themed songs to get Orrin in the mood. Then they suggest to Orrin that he sit with Bobbie on the porch swing. They are sure he is going to propose while they are there but then Merlin arrives with a woman named Lydia who has said yes to his proposal and Orrin gives him the ring that Merlin had arranged for him to buy for him. Bobbie is not disappointed and is glad to be with such a nice guy. 

            Merlin was played by Merlin Olsen, who earned a Bachelors degree in finance in 1962 and a Masters degree in Economics in 1970. He played defensive tackle for the Los Angeles Rams from 1962 until 1976. He starred in the short lived sitcom Fathers and Sons. He played Jonathan Garvey for four seasons of Little House on the Prairie. He starred for two seasons in the drama series Father Murphy.

September 30, 1993: I called Marie and told her it was high time we made love

Thirty years ago today

            On Thursday I got up after 11:00 and was amazed at how little I got done before leaving for work. I called Marie and told her it was high time we made love. She agreed and we arranged to meet on Friday. I worked that night at Artists 25 and then went to Mudds Cabaret. Tanya showed up and sat with me, then Mary Milne came with a friend. Only three of us read and I was disappointed with my singing. Martin said he wanted to kill the weekly open stage. I walked Tanya to Bathurst under a full moon.

Rudy Vallée

            On Thursday morning I memorized the ninth verse of "Lost Song" by Serge Gainsbourg. There is one verse left to learn so I'll probably have the song in my head on Friday. 

            I played my Martin acoustic guitar during song practice for the third day of four. 

            I weighed 85.3 kilos before breakfast. 

            Around midday I went over to the hardware store to buy a new plunger to replace the one that ruptured its rubber the day before after plunging the hell out of my toilet to keep it from overflowing. I talked with one of the staff about snakes and I considered that I might have to come back and get one if the new plunger wouldn't undo the blockage. 

            When I got home I got my salad bowl at the ready for bailing out the toilet if it started to fill up again. I flushed and it did fill up and so I scooped out a couple of bowlfuls of water. It wasn't rising as quickly as on Wednesday. I started plunging and at first nothing happened but suddenly to my relief it all went down. I don't know if the powerful drain cleaner actually seeped down and dissolved the big turd or if just soaking in water all night broke it up, but I didn't need a snake after all. I cleaned and disinfected the toilet and especially the sink because I'd been pissing in it for the last several hours. 

            I weighed 85.6 kilos before lunch. 

            In the afternoon I took a bike ride downtown and stopped at Freshco on the way back. The grapes weren't in great shape but I found a couple of bags of firm black ones. I bought two packs of strawberries, some bananas, a pack of blackberries, a hickory smoked ham, milk, orange juice, limeade, a tub of It's Not Butter, salsa, Miss Vickie's chips, and Sponge Towels. 

            I weighed 85.6 kilos at 17:45. 

            I was caught up on my journal at 18:39. 

            I compared my performances of my song "Megaphor" on August 14 and 18. They are about equal in good lighting and quality of playing but August 18 has a lot more traffic noise so August 14 is ahead. I compared August 19 to August 14 and on the 19th a couple of chords are slightly off so the 14th stays on top. I compared August 20 to August 14 and I think the 20th has fewer mistakes but the 14th has better light, more engagement, and nicer distortion and so I'm still holding onto the 14th. I compared August 29 to August 14 and watched the videos a couple of times but couldn't decide tonight which is better. I definitely play better on the 29th but there is better light and more engagement on the 14th. I'll watch them again on Friday. There are nine more sessions to look at and listen to after this. 

            In the Movie Maker project to create a video for the studio recording of my song "Megaphor" I further edited my copy of the silent film Spies by Fritz Lang from two and a half minutes down to eighteen seconds. I think I only need about six. 

            I scanned some of the negatives that I found while organizing my photo drawer. There was one shot of my daughter when she was newborn, a strip of pictures of my cat Siva on the roof of the place I lived on Widmer Street and single negatives from the spring of 1988. There are five of those left and the rest are colour. 

            I had a potato with gravy and a porkchop while watching season 7, episodes 14 and 15 of Petticoat Junction. In the first story Joe gets a registered letter from a Herbert A. Smith who says he's coming to see him. Joe assumes he's in trouble but when Smith arrives he gives Joe $50 to pay him back for the $50 he gave him when he was down and out in Erie, Pennsylvania. He tells Joe that his generosity motivated him to make something of himself and he became a wealthy man with a company called Smith Consolidated. Joe tells him that since he helped him get rich he should do more for him than giving him $50. Smith offers to sell Joe some shares of his stock in his own company. Joe puts up the deed to the hotel. Smith takes it to invest it, promising to make him rich, and then he gets on the Cannonball to go back to the city and make the arrangements. But after Smith leaves Joe remembers that he's never been in Erie, Pennsylvania. He now thinks he's been conned and with the help of Orrin he catches up with Smith in Hooterville and demands the deed back. Joe tells him he isn't the one who gave him the $50. Smith is impressed that Joe would tell him that and still offers him the deal, but Joe refuses. Smith takes the $50 back since Joe is not the one who gave it to him. Later they see in the paper that Smith really was rich and Smith Consolidated stock is soaring. 

            Herbert Smith was played by Rudy Vallée, who graduated from the University of Maine and later popularized The Maine Stein Song which was the theme for that institution's sports teams. He earned a BA in Philosophy from Yale University. He started as a saxophone player and a singer in big bands and then became a band leader. He was considered to be the first crooner and was famous for singing through a megaphone. People called him the guy with the cock in his voice. He embraced that title and claimed to have been with 145 women. In the 1930s he became the star of the hit radio show The Fleischman's Yeast Hour. When he took his vacations from the show he insisted that Louis Armstrong be his substitute. This was the first time a black person had ever hosted a national radio program. Vallée had a violent reputation and was known to punch hecklers and photographers but audiences loved him, even though his orchestra hated him. In the 1920s and 1930s he had a string of hit songs, including As Time Goes By. His theme song was "Vagabond Lover" and The Vagabond Lover was the name of his first movie. He co-starred in The Palm Beach Story, I Remember Mama, Unfaithfully Yours, How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying, The 60s hit song "Winchester Cathedral" was sung in his style and he liked it enough to sing it himself. He played Lord Marmaduke Ffogg in an episode of Batman. He had a television production company that produced one of the first cartoon shows, Tele Comics. 

           

            

            In the second story Billie Joe is bringing home a musician named Jerry Roberts. She has told Bobbie Joe over the phone that she thinks she's in love. Bobbie becomes obsessed with trying to help Billie and Jerry connect and so she tries to influence her family to be on their best behaviour and to put on a show of domestic bliss. She also keeps dropping hints and says that Betty Joe and Steve's honeymoon cottage could be the same for another sister and her beau. Finally Billie apologizes to Jerry for her family's behaviour, but Jerry says he loves it and thinks her family are the nicest people he's ever met. He says he's going to tell his fiancé all about them when he gets home. Billie is broken hearted but later receives a telegram from Jerry telling her that he and his fiancé broke up and he's looking forward to seeing her again as soon as possible.

September 29, 1993: My place was a mess because I was working so much

Thirty years ago today 

            On Wednesday I posed in sculpture at the Ontario College of Art from 9:00 to 16:00. I went home for an hour and then came back to OCA to work from 19:00 to 22:00. My place was still a mess since the weekend with my daughter because I'd been working so much that there was no time to clean.

Walter Baldwin

            On Wednesday at 4:00 when I got up to pee my computer said it was 15 degrees but it felt colder, so I decided to turn on the heat for a while. I got up half an hour later and shut it off just as the radiators were getting warm. That was all the extra heat the building needed and it was fairly comfortable for the rest of the morning. 

            I memorized the fourth verse of "C'était une pauv' gosse des rues" (She Was a Poor Child of the Street) by Boris Vian. 

            I memorized the eighth verse of "Lost Song" by Serge Gainsbourg. There are two verses left to learn. 

            I played my Martin acoustic guitar for the second day of four during song practice. 

            I weighed 84.9 kilos before breakfast, which is the lightest I've been in the morning in a week. 

            I continued sanding one of the boards I glued down to fill the depression in the kitchen floor. There's one part of one side that keeps sticking up from the level of the floor. I think I'm coming close to making it flush but it's taking a long time. 

            I weighed 85 kilos before lunch. I had crackers with five-year-old cheddar and a glass of limeade. 

            In the afternoon I took a bike ride downtown and when I got back to Parkdale I stopped at Mary Brown's. They finally opened today after the "coming soon" sign has been up for two years. All of the employees are South Asian except for a perky young white guy who seems to be there from the main office and a young white woman who seems to be under him but is also management. The guy was telling my server that there's lots of room for advancement within the company and he can tell from how she's done so far that she has what it takes. He indicated the counter area to someone and told them "This will be our domain". Apparently they were giving out free sandwiches in the morning. A down and out looking guy came in asking for one and was disappointed to hear the free ones were all gone. I ordered the Nashville Mary combo which is just a spicy chicken sandwich and taters. I had to wait about ten minutes. I'll heat them up for dinner. 

            When I got home I had to use the toilet. I pushed for fifteen minutes and extracted the biggest human turd I've ever seen. When I flushed it the toilet plugged and the water kept filling up so I had to constantly bail it out to keep it from overflowing. I used the plunger until it broke and then I used the other plunger I bought a few years ago that was advertized as the best plunger ever at the hardware store and the manager vouched for it but I don't find it works as well. When I dumped toilet water in the bathroom sink it plugged the sink. Later the plunger worked on the sink but not the toilet. Eventually the water stopped filling the toilet but then it was too low to plunge and so I stupidly flushed it again and spent another half an hour bailing it until it stopped again. I went out to see if the hardware store was open so I could buy another plunger but it was closed. I tried to flush it again and spent more than half an hour plunging and bailing to no avail until it stopped. I poured what is supposed to be the super powerful drain cleaner in but then I read that it doesn't work if the toilet won't flush. If the toilet flushed I wouldn't need it. The guys renovating unit 5 weren't there today. Maybe they'll be there tomorrow and the guy who snaked my kitchen drain can help me. I spent an hour and forty five minutes on the toilet. Maybe the drain cleaner will seep down and dissolve the blockage. 

            I weighed 84 kilos at 19:15, which is the lightest I've been in the evening in thirty nine days.

            I was caught up on my journal at 20:15 and didn't have any time to review videos, work on my video project or scan any negatives. 

            I heated the sandwich and taters from Mary Brown and they were okay but nothing special. I had them with a beer while watching season 7, episodes 12 and 13 of Petticoat Junction. 

            In the first story the chimp that Joe bought for Kathy Joe's birthday is causing a lot of trouble. He pulls laundry from the line, pulls up Billie Joe and Bobbie Joe's garden, contaminates Janet's medical instruments, and tangles Joe's fishing line. Joe has grown attached to the animal and so it breaks his heart but he takes him to give to the Riverdale zoo. But the chimp gets away and returns to the Shady Rest. Joe goes to Sam to take out an ad asking for a good home for the chimp. A salesman says he'll give him a home but he really just wants to sell him. Joe is bamboozled and lets him take the chimp and he leaves with him in a cage on the Cannonball. But the dog chases the Cannonball, gets on when the train stops for a cow and frees the chimp. They both go back to crawl into bed with Joe. 

            The chimp is not in the second story, so maybe they quietly wrote him out of the series. Joe discovers that it's been 75 years since the golden spike was laid to connect the Cannonball line. Joe, Sam, Newt and two representatives from Pixley all argue over who should drive the spike in the commemoration ceremony. Bobbie Joe suggests that it should be Grandpa Miller, since he was at the original ceremony. But Grandpa has a hard time swinging the sledgehammer and so Joe drives it in anyway. Suddenly oil comes spurting up and Joe thinks he's rich. Grandpa accidentally hits Joe over the head with the hammer and Joe dreams the opening segment from the Beverly Hillbillies but with Joe and his family replacing the Clampetts in the old truck and the lyrics changed from Jed to Joe. After Joe wakes up a representative of the Tristate Oil Company arrives to say that the spike that was driven cut one of his company's pipelines. 

            Grandpa Miller was played by Walter Baldwin, who started out performing in his parents' stock company. He worked on Broadway for twenty years before acting on the screen. He played Whit in the first Broadway production of Of Mice and Men. From 1949 to 1959 he was featured in a series of John Deere Day movies called Tom Gordon Family Films. John Deere dealerships would hold an annual party and show a movie. Baldwin played Tom Gordon, who would always buy the newest John Deere product. He was the first actor to play Floyd the barber on The Andy Griffith Show but only for one episode.

September 28, 1993: Jodie was planning a porn video and I said I wanted in

Thirty years ago today

            On Tuesday I posed from 9:00 to 16:00 at the Stewart Building for the Ontario College of Art. After work I headed up to Yehudah's place at the Norm Elder Museum to rehearse for my November 1 show at Crickets, but we never got around to practicing. Tom Smarda came by to pick up the tape I'd made of all of my songs we'd be doing. He sort of seemed to be humming and hawing about the commitment he'd made to accompany me. Then Jodie came over and told us about a porno video she wanted to do. She seemed glad when I told her I wanted to be in on it. We were all going for coffee but then Jodie had to leave and so Yehudah and I went to some place on Dupont where I bought him some hummus.

John Cliff

            On Tuesday morning I memorized the seventh verse of "Lost Song" by Serge Gainsbourg. There are three short verses left to learn. 

            I played my Martin acoustic guitar during song practice for the first day of four. 

            I weighed 85.4 kilos before breakfast. 

            I continued organizing the photo drawer of my small filing cabinet. I separated the prints into separate files: Parkdale Collage, Me, Friends, Girlfriends, Acquaintances, Astrid as a baby, Astrid when she was just walking, Astrid after starting to walk, street shots, people, and contact sheets. Some of the files are bulky so I'll probably expand them into sub-categories because I have extra file folders. I started going through the negatives I've scanned and placed their labeled envelopes in the closest corresponding file folders. I got about two thirds of the negatives placed. 

            I weighed 85.2 kilos before lunch. 

            In the afternoon I took a bike ride downtown and on the way back I stopped at Freshco where I bought four bags of black grapes. 

            I spent about fifteen minutes chiseling black quartz from pieces of the rock I found six years ago. 

            I weighed 84.9 kilos at 17:30. 

            I was caught up on my journal at 18:19. 

            I compared my August 27 performance of Megaphor with August 5 and although the 27th is pretty good and looks good, August fifth has great light and I seem so much more present. So August 5 is still ahead. I compared August 28 to August 5 and although I might be playing slightly better on August 28, I still prefer August 5. I compared August 31 to August 5 and I found I'm more on top of the performance on August 5. I compared September 6 to August 5 and I don't hit some of the chords as firmly on September 6 and so August 5 still stays in front. I compared September 11 to August 5 and September 11 is pretty good but I still like my level of engagement on August 5, so it stays on top. I compared September 12 to August 5 and September 12 had no natural light and I was off on one chord. August 5 continues to shine brighter. I compared September 13 to August 5 and I still feel there's something more special about August 5 and so it wins the upload prize. I feel almost like I should be embarrassed after a month and a half of recording myself playing this song that the best one was at the beginning. To be fair some of the later ones are better but they just don't look as good because I lost a minute of light every day. Also maybe I was less frustrated early on. 

            In the Movie Maker project to create a video for the studio recording of my song "Megaphor" I finished the initial edit of my copy of the silent film Spies by Fritz Lang and cut it from two hours down to two and a half minutes. I only need clips from it for my line, "the spies in my brain plant mines in the answers just to drive me insane" and so I still need to cut the film down to about six seconds. I'll start working on that on Wednesday. 

            I finished organizing my photo drawer. I had two file folders left over and so I labeled one "Astrid's negatives" and the other "Street shot negatives". That evens out a lot of the bulk. While sorting through the photos I found more negatives that have yet to be scanned and so I'll start on those on Wednesday. 

            I had a potato with gravy and a pork chop while watching season 7, episodes 10 and 11 of Petticoat Junction. 

            In the first story the Bradley sisters, Joe, Steve, Kathy Joe and Orrin go on a camping trip. Joe doesn't like Orrin and resents his presence. He especially resents the fact that Orrin knows a lot about camping because of his training as a game warden. Orrin says it's very important not to leave food scraps lying around so as not to attract wild animals. And this was something I didn't know, that when getting water from a stream one should always take it from where the water is running over rocks because it's purer that way. Joe resents all of that advice. When Joe goes fishing he catches nothing while Orrin brings back a large catch. That night Joe goes to sleep early and Orrin zips up his sleeping bag so he won't be cold. But the next morning the zipper is stuck and Joe can't get out. The next night Joe goes off by himself to sleep but before bedding down throws pieces of a sandwich nearby. While he's sleeping a bear comes for the food. When everyone hears the bear they come running. But when Orrin sees the bear he slips away and everyone thinks he's a coward. But shortly after that the bear suddenly moves away from Joe and goes back in the woods. Orrin had taken a jar of honey and placed it upwind from the bear. 

            In the second story preparations are underway for Kathy Joe's first birthday party. Billie Joe is doing a performance in another town and they want to hold her over. The agent doesn't want to let her leave but she is able to get away just for the one day. Steve gets called away to a crop dusting job but he makes it back on time. Charlie Hanks's wife is pregnant with quadruplets and Janet has to deliver them with the assistance of Bobbie Joe who seems to be a nurse now. Joe takes Kathy Joe into Pixley and lets her pick out her own present but she picks a chimpanzee in a pet shop window. The chimps one sees in these shows are all very young while the adults grow about a head shorter than the average human, so they make extremely impractical and possibly dangerous pets. While Joe, Kathy and the chimp are sitting on some seats on the sidewalk a woman comes out of a store and comes over to engage with the baby. But while she is doing so the chimp takes her wallet out of her purse. She calls the police because she thinks Joe planned it, so Joe, Kathy and the chimp all end up in the Pixley jail. Meanwhile Elbert the Pixley town drunk is arrested in Hooterville by the justice of the peace Sam Drucker. Elbert pleads guilty and Sam says he has to either pay $5 or spend five days in custody. Elbert says he'll take the five days because he's broke. Sam can't watch Albert because he has the party to go to. Joe gets one phone call and calls Sam. Sam arranges for a prisoner exchange with the Pixley sheriff, Elbert for Joe, Kathy and the chimp. The rest of the episode is just Steve singing two songs for Kathy and then there's a cake.

            The Pixley sheriff was played by John Cliff, whose father ran a minstrel show in Georgia. He flew cargo planes over the Himalayas during WWII. After the war he wanted to be a commercial pilot but was rejected because he didn't have a college degree, so he got into acting. His first movie was a small part in Fighting Man of the Plains in 1949. He was in the army reserves and was called away to fight in the Korean war. He returned to Hollywood in 1953. He played Ulysses in The Three Stooges Meet Hercules. He had supporting roles in several movies and guest appearances on many television shows. He retired from acting in the 70s and became a real estate agent.

September 27, 1993: I finished reading my Parkdale poems at Crickets

Thirty years ago today

            On Monday I took my daughter back to Nancy's place at around 13:00, then I went home and napped. That night I posed until 22:00 for David Campbell's class at the Ontario College of Art. After work I went up to Crickets for the open stage and finished reading all of my Parkdale poems. Afterwards Mary Milne and I walked Diana Scala to her building, then I took the subway to Yonge. From there I walked down to Queen and got caught in the rain before I could catch the streetcar home.

Jay Ripley

            On Monday morning I memorized the sixth verse of "Lost Song" by Serge Gainsbourg and adjusted my translation of the final verse. 

            I played my Kramer electric guitar during song practice for the second of two days. On Tuesday I'll begin four sessions with the Martin acoustic. 

            The raspberries I bought from No Frills were mostly rotten and so I went out to the Queen Fresh market where I bought two pints of raspberries. Unlike the supermarkets these little stores can't afford to sell overripe fruit. The woman ahead of me made her purchase and left but came back in with two packs of raspberries. She said, "I see you buy so I get!" 

            I weighed 86 kilos before breakfast, which is the heaviest I've been in the morning in eight days.

            At around 11:00 I looked out the window and saw an attractive woman in her twenties or thirties walking east on Queen Street entirely naked. She had long, wavy bleached blonde hair and was slim but well proportioned. I think I've seen her in the neighbourhood clothed and at those times she looked like she was on drugs, but here she looked quite relaxed even though she was walking fairly quickly. She was carrying a long, diaphanous coloured scarf that looked like she could easily wrap around herself if she needed to. I opened my window and leaned out to enjoy watching her. About a block east of my place she extended her arms up in the air in a luxurious stretch and then bent them to fluff out her hair. I was impressed and she made my day. 

            I started organizing the photo drawer in my metal two-drawer filing cabinet. I put all the pieces of my Parkdale collage into one folder and photos of cats into another and labeled them. 

            I weighed 85.8 kilos before lunch. I haven't been that hefty at midday in a week. 

            In the afternoon I took a bike ride downtown and back. 

            I started chiseling some more black quartz from a piece of the rock I found six years ago, but because of the renovations in unit 5 the deck is crowded with junk and the landlord is hanging around, so I decided not to do it today. 

            I weighed 85.5 kilos at 17:15. 

            I was updated in my journal at 18:30. 

            I reviewed my September 14 and 15 performances of my song "Megaphor". I played the electric guitar both sessions and I noted the final takes for each day are worth listening to again in the contest to find out which is best. 

            I compared my August 5 acoustic performance of "Megaphor" with the one from August 11. I had noted August 11 as being the best so far but I think August 5 is better. I compared August 22 with August 5 and there is one chord a little off in the August 22 performance, so August 5 is still ahead. I compared August 26 to August 5 and August 5 still looks a lot better. I might be playing slightly better on August 26 but not enough to sway me because August 5 looks so much better and there's also some traffic noise on August 26, so August 5 is still ahead. There are seven more sessions to compare for the acoustic and fourteen for the electric. 

            I continued to organize my photo drawer. Some of the folders are already labeled; "Friends", Acquaintances", "Astrid solo baby pictures", "Astrid from walking to present: small pictures", and "Astrid from walking to present large pictures". I need to add folders for street shots, Astrid and me, girlfriends, and one for all my contact sheets. Then the rest of the folders will need to be labeled to match the labeling for the envelopes where I put all the negatives I scanned. 

            I had a potato with gravy and a pork chop while watching season 7, episodes 8 and 9 of Petticoat Junction. 

            In the first story Dr. Janet Craig is on a drive to inoculate everyone in the valley for the flu. She's trained the Bradley sisters to help her give the shots. (Maybe it was different in the 1960s but only a trained health care worker or health care student, including pharmacists and pharmacy students are qualified to administer vaccines in Canada). They manage to inoculate everyone in the valley but Jasper Tweedy and his large family. Jasper refuses to take the shot and even threatens Janet with his shotgun. Janet asks Joe to convince Jasper and so he goes up there to challenge him to a game of checkers. He's letting Jasper win to get him in a good mood but then his son Claude points out that Janet is sitting in a jeep nearby and Jasper realizes it's a trick. He fires salt at them with his shotgun as they drive away. He also tries to sick his dog Gus on them but he won't budge from where he's lying down. Then Billie Joe and Bobbie Joe try to get to Jasper through his son Claude. They flirt with him and promise to go to the dance with him and they are a second away from giving him a shot when Jasper catches them and pulls out his shotgun. He also tells Gus to attack but he's still not moving. Then Janet tries again, this time with Orrin the game warden. Jasper pours moonshine down Orrin's throat, then tells Claude to hold the shotgun on them while he goes to check his still. But Orrin notices that Gus looks sick. Perhaps given courage by the white lightning, Orrin takes the gun away from Claude while Janet gives Gus a vitamin B shot. Later when Janet and the Bradley sisters have given up on the Tweedy family, the whole clan shows up at the Shady Rest. Jasper says that Gus is up and around and so he's impressed with what the doctor has to offer. His family is all there for their flu shots. 

            Claude was played by Jay Ripley, who starred in the movie Santa and the Ice Cream Bunny. He appeared in six episodes of Petticoat Junction over the run of the series as basically the same character but with three different names. He had a few other small guest roles in movies and TV series and the one type of character he tended to play was interesting so it's surprising he didn't get more work. 

            In the second story Joe resents sharing a bathroom with Steve and leaves him a nasty anonymous note. It's obvious who Anonymous is and so Steve and Betty Joe start thinking of moving out. They ask Mr. Haney to show them some houses but he takes them to a dilapidated shack. Joe says he'll install a bathroom just for Betty and Steve. He works for a long time and then throws a party for the unveiling. He gets the plumbing crossed so that the sink faucet opens the shower and the shower turns on the sink, but Betty and Steve are grateful for his efforts.

September 26, 1993: My daughter and I played in the sandbox at Kew Gardens

Thirty years ago today 

            On Sunday my daughter and I went to Kew Gardens and played in the sandbox. She stayed over for a second night.

Leslie Parrish

            On Sunday morning I memorized the third verse of "C'était une pauv' gosse des rues" (She Was a Poor Child of the Street) by Boris Vian. 

            I memorized the fifth verse of "Lost Song" by Serge Gainsbourg and adjusted my translation to fit my better understanding of the rhyme scheme. 

            I played my Kramer electric guitar during song practice for the first day of two. I had to tune it twice as usual but this time I was able to tune it from the bottom screws rather than having to unlock it at the top of the neck for deep tuning and so it was less time consuming. It was the first time since I finished this year's recording project that I didn't have to shorten any songs while playing the electric.

            Now that my sink is unplugged I can get my water from the kitchen. I can walk there without unplugging the Kramer but I get loud crackling and popping noises from my amp. I solved that by switching off the amp when I pass it and then back on when I come back. 

            I weighed 85.6 kilos before breakfast. 

            While washing dishes I discovered that my drain is still blocked. It took quite a while for it to back up, but still that means I can't put the stuff back under the sink that I store there and so it's all still in the middle of the kitchen floor. I also planned to hand wash some things but can't if the sink is backing up. I emailed the landlord. I looked for the Mexican guys who are doing the renovation next door but maybe they don't work on Sundays. 

            I found separate envelopes for the various sets of negatives I've scanned and labeled them. I also cut the long strip of colour negatives that I recently scanned into strips of five and put those into an envelope. I think before I scan anything more from the wooden cabinet I'll organize the negatives I've already scanned and put them back in the photo drawer of the small metal filing cabinet. 

            I weighed 85.6 kilos before lunch. I heated the rest of the spinach and feta pastries that I froze several months ago and had them with a glass of limeade. 

            In the afternoon I took a bike ride downtown and back. 

            I weighed 85.4 kilos at 17:30. 

            The guys renovating the plumbing in unit five came in the evening and I told the guy who snaked the drain yesterday that it was still blocked. But I ran the water for about twenty minutes and it didn't back up. I assume it takes fewer than twenty minutes for water to run from my tap to the sewer. He suggested that the remaining blockage got cleared from running the water. 

            I was caught up on my journal at 19:00. 

            I reviewed the videos of my performances of my song "Megaphor" from September 9 to 13. On September 9 I played the electric guitar. The song doesn't start until 3 minutes in. This was done in one take and it was pretty good although the light wasn't great. The rest were played with the acoustic. On September 10 the take at 6:00 was mostly okay but a couple of chords sounded slightly off. On September 11 it was done in one take bur one chord didn't land firmly. On September 12 the take at 3:45 was okay but one chord sounded off. On September 13 the take at 6:45 was pretty good. 

            In the Movie Maker project to create a video for the studio recording of my song "Megaphor" I cut another fifteen minutes from the Fritz Lang silent film Spies. 

            I made pizza on my last slice of seven grain bread with Basilica sauce and five-year-old cheddar. I had it with a beer while watching season 7, episodes 6 and 7 of Petticoat Junction. 

            In the first story a musician named Glen Tinker checks into the Shady Rest. Inside of his duffel bag is a Vietnamese orphan named Tammy. Joe and the girls discover her and Glen explains that she stowed away before he left Vietnam. He wants to adopt her and she wants him to adopt her but he wants to be successful first. That night he goes to do a concert and he's a big hit. But while he's out Tammy has a bad stomach ache and so Betty Joe calls Janet even though they've been avoiding telling her because she's the local representative of the International Adoption Agency. She's received notice that a four year old orphan has disappeared from the adoption centre in Danang. Janet says she'll call the authorities tomorrow and there'll be a hearing. The whole family is cold to Janet as she says goodnight. The next day a judge presides over an informal hearing at the Shady Rest. The judge notices that Tammy calls Glen "Boss". He says he taught her to call him boss because he doesn't think children should call adults by their first name. He thinks it would be better if children learn at an early age who's boss. Oddly the Bradley sisters cheer that statement. Janet suggests that Glen take over the old blacksmith shop in Hooterville and turn it into a music store. She offers to assume responsibility for Tammy's care along with Glen, so the judge says okay. 

            In the second story Jacqueline Moran, the famous author of Sex is Here to Stay, comes to stay at the Shady Rest while she finishes her latest novel. She has come on the recommendation of Steve who she met when he was in reserve training and he'd been ordered to show her around the base. Betty Joe resents the beautiful Jacqueline because she's always asking for Steve's help. Jacqueline is not finding the hotel very restful because of the noise of the baby and Betty and her sisters decide in uncharacteristic mean spiritedness to make things even worse so she will move out. They play instruments very loudly and Jacqueline leaves but Joe runs into her and rents her the cottage. She is still calling on Steve a lot because he's the landlord. Jacqueline calls her boyfriend and asks him to visit. When he arrives, for some odd reason Billie Joe puts on her sexiest dress and distracts him from seeing Jacqueline by having him take her to dinner two towns away. Jacqueline goes back to New York and everybody seems to be okay with the way they've behaved towards her. It was very strange and out of character. 

            Jacqueline was played by Leslie Parrish, who studied at the Philadelphia Conservatory of Music. She started working as a model to pay for tuition and began acting in 1955, mostly on television. She played Daisy Mae in the 1959 film adaptation of L'il Abner. She played Lieutenant Carolyn Palamas in the season 2, episode 2 Star Trek story Who Mourns for Adonais. She was married to Ric Marlow, who co-authored the song "A Taste of Honey", which was recorded by the Beatles. She was married to Richard D. Bach the author of Jonathan Livingston Seagull for 18 years. She was associate producer for the film adaptation when it was in production until Bach had a falling out with the director. Bach's books The Bridge Across Forever and One are based on his relationship with Parrish. She co-starred in The Giant Spider Invasion. She was a prominent anti Viet Nam war activist. She created STOP (Speakers and Talent Organized for Peace). Leonard Nimoy was a member. She created the famous bumper sticker, "Suppose They Gave a War and No One Came". She campaigned for Tom Bradley and helped him become the first black mayor of LA.

September 25, 1993: My daughter went to Earthtones to play with the water cooler

Thirty years ago today 

            On Saturday I had some collages to copy and so after picking up my daughter I took her downtown. We went to Earthtones on her request where she played with the water cooler. I called Diana Dufretes and she invited us over. My daughter shit her pants and I had to do a major cleaning. I met Diana's new boyfriend and his brother. My daughter and I went home and she went to sleep in the evening for the rest of the night.

Harry Dean Stanton

            On Saturday morning I memorized the fourth verse of "Lost Song" by Serge Gainsbourg. I reworked my translation of the first four verses in light of my better understanding of the rhyme scheme. 

            I played my Martin acoustic guitar during song practice for the second day of two. On Sunday I'll start two sessions with the Kramer electric. 

            I weighed 85.1 kilos before breakfast. 

            Around midday I went down to No Frills where I bought a bag of grapes, a watermelon, two packs of raspberries, a lemon, a pack of chicken drumsticks, a bag of naan, Comet cleanser, mouthwash, olive oil, and two containers of skyr. 

            I weighed 84.9 kilos before lunch. The landlord came with one of the two guys he's hired to renovate the plumbing in unit 5 now that Shankar's moved out. He had one of them look at my pipe and he said he needed a snake and would come back in an hour. I took a siesta and then a bike ride downtown and back. When I returned the guy came in with the snake. 

            I chiseled some more black quartz from a piece of the rock I found six years ago. 

            I weighed 85.6 kilos at 17:30. 

            He was still trying to unblock my drain. He said the snake went down four meters and then he finally cleared whatever was blocking it. He said it would leak again if it gets plugged and that's normal but that makes no sense to me. Pipes are supposed to hold water. He said he's here from Mexico as a refugee and has been here for about six months. I said welcome to Canada.

            I was caught up on my journal at 18:40. 

            I reviewed the videos of my performances of Megaphor from September 5 to 8. After about fifteen minutes I remembered to buy beer and so I went quickly out in my sweat pants to get a six-pack of Creemore. On September 5 and 8 I played the electric guitar and both final takes were okay. On September 6 and 7 I played the acoustic guitar and on September 6 the take at 7:15 was okay but on September 7 a chord was sharp near the end. I have eight more sessions to review and it'll probably take until Monday evening to have them done. 

            The city installed a new bench to replace the one that got smashed by a truck. The guy who sits drinking beer and playing Italian music while loudly greeting people is very happy to have it back. 

            In the Movie Maker project to create a video for the studio recording of my song "Megaphor" I knocked another ten minutes off the Fritz Lang silent film Spies. 

            I grilled a salmon fillet and toasted a slice of seven grain bread. I had them with a beer while watching season 7, episodes 4 and 5 of Petticoat Junction. 

            In the first story someone is poaching poultry. Orrin the game warden runs across two bikers and finds a duck feather on one of their bikes. They casually ride away before Orrin even thinks of pulling his gun. Orrin gets temporarily suspended for letting them get away. His confidence is shattered and Janet advises Bobbie Joe to listen to him read poetry to her. This is presented as a sacrifice on her part while three seasons ago she would have liked nothing better. Later at the Shady Rest Orrin hears gunshots and wants to go after them but the women insist that Joe come along in the side car of Orrin's bike. But Orrin runs out of gas because he filled his tank with a gas can that was full of water. The bikers find them and Joe suggests they steal Orrin's gas. They ride away and then Orrin calls the sheriff to tell him the poachers will be out of gas so he can pick them up. The bikers are arrested but I didn't see much evidence that they were the poachers other than a duck feather. 

            One of the bikers was played by Harry Dean Stanton, who served as a cook in the navy during the battle of Okinawa. He studied acting at the Pasadena Playhouse. He toured the US in a male choir. His first movie role was as a supporting actor in the 1957 film Mark of the Apache. In 1984 he co-starred in Repo Man and starred in Paris, Texas. He co-starred in Pretty in Pink, Cockfighter, and Fool for Love. He co-starred in Twin Peaks. He starred in Lucky, one of his final films. He was the best man at Jack Nicholson's wedding. He also had a successful musical career with the Harry Dean Stanton Band. Roger Ebert created the Stanton-Walsh rule, which stated that no film featuring Harry Dean Stanton or M. Emmet Walsh could be altogether bad. 

            

            In the second story a new car dealership has opened in Hooterville called King's Kars. As a promotion King is running a beauty contest with a free trip to Los Angeles as the prize. Steve suggests to Orrin that he enter Bobbie Joe in the contest. Orrin is shy because he has to photograph Bobbie in a bathing suit but she encourages him. However when Betty Joe learns Steve didn't enter her she's mad, so he does so. Then Joe enters Billie Joe. The girls begin to bicker. Then Sam enters Janet but that doesn't solve the problem. On the day the winner is announced it is revealed to be the one year old Kathy Joe. Janet entered her and says that the prize can take the form of a scholarship. Everybody is happy with that but Orrin asks why King allowed a baby to win. King says that his wife forced him to not pick a woman.

September 24, 1993: There was an extra paycheque for me at the Ontario College of Art

Thirty years ago today

            On Friday I worked from 9:00 to 16:00 at the Ontario College of Art. I went to pick up my pay and there was an extra cheque from July. On the way home I bought barbecued chicken and beer. My place was still a mess from the previous weekend with my daughter.